
Principal Engineer/Sr. Principal Engineer RF Microwave Design
Compensation
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Job Description
Description
At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.Northrop Grumman Missions Systems is seeking experienced RF engineers in the following areas: Antennas, Electromagnetics, Computational Electromagnetics, RF/Microwave design, Digital beamforming, Hardware/Subsystem Integration and Test, and Antenna Control Design.
The qualified candidate will work with a diverse and talented team of engineers developing innovative and cost-effective systems that support a broad range of products and business areas across the lifecycle of a program. Applicants should possess the ability to communicate effectively and clearly present technical approaches and findings.
What you'll get to do:
Responsibilities may include Testing and Troubleshooting Line Replacement Units (LRU) of RF architecture, recommend data driven requirements threshold adjustments; perform subsystem analysis including hardware from RF to digits, support for performance testing, requirements verification, and more. Work is performed without appreciable direction and exercising considerable latitude in determining technical objectives of assignments
Experienced applicants will have at least a bachelor’s degree in science or other related technical degree or have equivalent experience testing and troubleshooting, integration, designing, developing and/or testing radio frequency (RF) and/or microwave antenna systems and/or related RF hardware. Candidates would have the ability to troubleshoot complex problems which require the regular use of ingenuity and creativity.
In addition, this candidate should have demonstrated technical ability/leadership and expertise in one or more of the following areas:
- Wide Band Waveform Generator test and/or troubleshooting
- Phase Noise test and/or troubleshooting techniques
- RF and/or digital hardware test and/or troubleshooting
- Troubleshot electronic equipment to the component level.
- Integrated Receiver Exciter Assemblies (IREX)
- Highly integrated subsystems including receiver exciter hardware
- RF Performance Analysis
- Computational Electromagnetics, Statistics
- Subsystem Control Design
- RF Measurements and Data Reduction
- Integration and test of RF assemblies
- Subsystem requirements (hardware and software) derivation, flow-down, and configuration
- Comfortable creating test support applications and tools using MATLAB, python, etc.
- Experience with Atlassian Tool Suite, Git
- Active Interim Secret or higher clearance.
Basic Qualification for Principal Engineer:
- Bachelors Degree in Engineering or related discipline with 5 years of experience in the areas described in the job description above. 3 years of experience with a Masters Degree. An additional 4 years of experience is acceptable in lieu of a degree.
- U.S. Citizenship is required.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD secret clearance is required
- Demonstrate problem solving skills to a variety of RF/Microwave design and test related problems of increasing scope and complexity as assigned
- Proven knowledge of electrical engineering, design software and equipment
- Expertise Testing and Troubleshooting in a Manufacturing Environment
- Experience troubleshooting RF hardware/subsystems
Basic Qualifications for Sr. Principal Engineer:
- Bachelors Degree in Engineering or related discipline with 8 years of experience in the areas described in the job description above. 6 years of experience with a Masters Degree. An additional 4 years of experience is acceptable in lieu of a degree.
- U.S. Citizenship is required.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD secret clearance is required
- Expertise Testing and Troubleshooting in a Manufacturing Environment
- Demonstrate problem solving skills to a variety of RF/Microwave design and test related problems of increasing scope and complexity as assigned
- Proven knowledge of electrical engineering, design software and equipment
- Expertise with troubleshooting RF hardware/subsystems
Preferred Qualifications
- Current Active DoD Secret Clearance.
- Experience Testing, Troubleshooting or designing RF hardware/subsystems
- Troubleshot electronic equipment to the component level.
- Experience with RF lab test equipment: signal generator, oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer, etc.
- Hands on experience in at least one type of these test set: Common RF Test Set (CRFTS), LM-STAR, Hiller Test sets, Phase Noise Test sets and consoles
- Experience troubleshooting and resolving HW/SW integration problems
- Experience with using or developing software to control hardware (such as MATE or AMAX)
- Experience with test scripting, data analysis, and/or signal processing
- Experience mentoring other design and/or RF test engineers
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Job Details
- Category
- Electrical
- Employment Type
- Full time
- Location
- Baltimore, MD 21215, United States
- Posted
- Jan 13, 2026, 07:00 PM
- Listed
- Jan 15, 2026, 01:33 AM
- Last updated
- Jan 17, 2026, 04:25 AM
- Compensation
- $108,800 - $163,200 per year
About Northrop Grumman
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